Date Palm

a genus of palms, the most important species of which is the common date palm, the palm tree of Scripture, a native of the N. half of Africa, the S. W. of Asia, and some parts of India, and of which the cultivation is no le wide, and still extending. Some parts of China produce large crops. The stem, which is straight and simple, reaches a height of 30 to 60 feet, and bears a head of 40 to 80 glaucous pinnated leaves, 8 to 10 feet long. and a number of branching spadices, each of which on the female tree bears 180 to 200 fruits. A bunch of dates weighs 20 or 25 pounds, so that an average year’s crop may be reckoned at 300 to — 600 pounds per tree, and the yield per acre at about 12 ‘times that of corn. This is one of the most important and useful of all the palms, In Egypt, and generally in North Africa, Persia, and Arabia, dates form the principal food, and date palms the principal wealth of the people. Some derive the origin of the colonnade pillar in architecture to the regular mode of the planting of the palm tree and the use of its stem in building, while in symbolic interest the palm tree stands second to no other; plant. The symbol of beauty and of victory alike to Hebrews and Hellenes from the earliest times, it pa ed readou q Ap rp,: Les: cer: \ (ale ) i keg Be: ere a y 7 AS yin) ‘ Psy Hagh: Baie ns ¢ DATE PALM. fly to the suggestion of victory over death and glorious immortality; hence the habit of representing angels and the ble ed with palms in their hands. It was largely used also for decoration of festivals, and ‘or strewing in proee ions. Christ’s triumphal entry into Jersualem is still commemorated on Palm Sunday.